Hope Remains

Hope was flying high and fast, well above the building tops, unlikely to be seen. The lack of powered heroes emboldened the criminally inclined, and left those few cops who remained, those who stayed on trying to do the job, hard-pressed indeed. She was always wary of the villains setting an ambush for her, but a getaway car at speed was extremely unlikely to be a trap.
 
She was watching the car careen through highway traffic, other cars swerving desperately, accident after accident ensuing. A lone police car followed but hung back, clearly trying to not goad their pursuit into even more reckless driving. The danger posed by the thieves was even greater however, as they had equipped themselves with automatic weapons and heavy armour, and they had proven to be more than willing to use those weapons during their bank robbery.
 
Hope could not risk them deciding to spray their weapons at innocents when she intervened. She had to stop both of the thieves at the same time and stop them hard. The decision was easy, the timing was not. She had to catch them when there was little nearby traffic, yet she couldn't wait too long. So far the accidents the crooks had provoked were relatively minor, but that luck couldn't hold long.
 
Caution warred with the immediacy of the danger, and she took her shot when she judged other cars far enough away to brake in time. She plummeted onto the highway like a ballistic missile to land braced for impact right in front of the car. A split second later the car smashed into her and crumpled, both thieves going straight through the windshield. Other cars did indeed break in time.
 
Hope winced, not from the pain of the impact, though that did hurt, but because the two thieves landed hard and skidded a long way. Hope had never killed before and she very much wanted to avoid that, but these two had to be stopped. Even if they didn't make it though, it would still be justice. They had already killed innocents.
 
Hope went to check on them, she had to know. The sole cop car pulled up as she sighed with some relief. Both were in bad shape, but they would likely live. A few civilians had gotten out of their cars to gape at an honest to god superhero. The two cops getting out of their car were clearly torn, they knew they'd be in trouble if they didn't try to arrest the vigilante, but they were also clearly not particularly enthusiastic about it.
 
"It's ok boys, I understand,"  Hope reassured them. The word does have to go out. There are still heroes. She smiled as cell phone cameras clicked for the brief moment Hope remained. 
 
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